Musician Taylor Swift on Friday was removed from a federal lawsuit that claimed she interfered with David Mueller’s career when she alleged the former KYGO radio host groped her during a pre-concert meet and greet.
U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez granted part of Swift’s legal team’s motion to dismiss Mueller’s case.
The federal court jury, however, will decide whether Swift’s mother, Andrea Swift, and her radio promotions manager, Frank Bell, used their influence to pressure KYGO into firing Mueller, Martinez ruled.
Swift smiled at her lawyers when hearing that she was removed from the suit. When the court day ended, she hugged each of her lawyers before hugging her brother and father. Her mother had left court earlier in the day because of illness.
The jurors were not in the courtroom when Martinez heard motions from lawyers for Swift and Mueller on Friday afternoon.
Swift lawyer Douglas Baldridge filed the motion to remove his client, saying Mueller’s team had not proven his claims. “I would ask you right now, please, after this ordeal, please remove Ms. Taylor Swift from this case.”
Mueller’s lawyer, Gabe McFarland, disagreed.
The standard of proof for the judge to approve the motion — known as a Rule 50 — is one of the highest standards of law in civil cases, Martinez said, explaining that if he were to take the case from the jury, it would be on the basis that no reasonable jury could rule in Mueller’s favor.
Swift still has a counterclaim of assault and battery by Mueller, but has the option to drop it.
The jury is set to return to U.S. District Court on Monday morning when they will hear closing statements and decide whether Andrea Swift and Bell are liable for damages.
Martinez ruled that they could be responsible for the wages Mueller lost when he was fired about five months into his employment contract, but they cannot be found responsible for future lost wages.
Mueller sued Swift, her mother and Bell in 2015, claiming they interfered with his employment at KYGO after Bell reported to the station Swift’s claims that the host had groped her and said it could have “grave” consequences on relationship between the singer and the station.
“Mr. Mueller’s beef is with KYGO. It’s not with my clients,” Baldridge told Martinez during the motions hearing. “That’s the problem with this case and that’s why it’s presented on its head.”
Baldridge went through Mueller’s claim and explained why not enough evidence had been presented.
Among those reasons he cited was that Swift believed Mueller had groped her and informed her mom, who was on the singer’s senior management team, 13 Management, and the equivalent of her human resources department. On the stand, Mueller had agreed that someone who believed they were sexually assaulted had the right to inform their employer.
In defense of his case, McFarland argued that Swift knew Mueller did not assault her but accused him nonetheless. Swift was visibly outraged by the claim, glaring at McFarland, throwing her arms in the air and looking back toward her father, brother and publicist, who were seated in the gallery.
The judge asked McFarland what motivation Swift would have to falsely accuse Mueller, and if he proved it in his case. He responded by asking what would be Mueller’s motivation to throw away his dream job by groping the singer. The judge said the burden of proof was on Mueller, not Swift.
Additionally, Baldridge argued that Taylor Swift cannot be liable for the actions of Bell and Andrea Swift as their employer because they were not her employees. Instead, they were employed by 13 Management, which was not named in the suit.
Baldridge unsuccessfully argued for the removal of Andrea Swift and Frank Bell from the suit. He pointed out that Andrea Swift never spoke to KYGO and similarly that Bell never specifically told KYGO what to do. Instead, Mueller’s bosses had come to their decision based on their own investigation. And if that investigation was flawed, that’s KYGO’s fault, Baldridge said.
But the judge disagreed that there was no scenario where a jury could find them guilty.
Andrea Swift had testified that she “absolutely” wanted Mueller to be fired. When explaining the incident to KYGO, Bell had said the family was extremely upset and expected the station to do the right thing.
The station’s market manager, Robert Call, testified that two of the three reasons he fired Mueller was because of his phone conversation with Bell and the photo from the meet and greet that the Swift team sent to the station.
Additionally, Martinez noted that Mueller’s girlfriend had reported two similar incidents of sexual assault by a KYGO employee to the company, but that employee was not fired.